Device for sealing flowing wells and stopping the engines



De@ 15,v 1931- c. A. RASMUSSEN ET AL' l,836,507

DEVICE FOR SEALING FLOWING WELLS AND STOPPING THE ENGINES Filed Nov, 12, 1927 5 sheets-sheet 1 DeC- 15, 1931- c. A RASMUSSEN ET A| 1,836,507

DEVICE FOR SEALING FLOWING WELLS AND STOPPING THE ENGINES Filed Nov. l2, 1927" 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 DCC l5, 1931. c. A. RAsMUssi-:N ET AL 1,836,507

DEVICE FOR SEALING FLOWING WELLS AND STOPPING THE ENGINES Filed NoKv. l2, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 f5 7 Topf/Ef Patented Dec. l5, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT ol-FlcE CHESTER A. RASMUSSEN, F LONG BEACH, AND WILLIAM A. TROUT, 0F LOS ANGELES,

' CALIFORNIA DEVICE FOR SEALING FLOWING WELLS AND STOPPING THE ENGINES Application med November 12,1927. Serial No. 232,750.

Our invention relates t0 Well drilling equipment and it consists of a combination of instrumentalities wherebyv a well which has been brought in may be automatically closed at the upper end immediately after'the drill element is removed from the upper end of the well, and whereby the engine operating the lifting means which elevates the drill element may be auti'imatically shut down.

In order that the advantages of our invention may be readily understood, we will briefly describe the art. After a-well has been drilled to a level immediately above the oil formation, a Well casing is cemented in place and a blow-out preventer is installed at the upper end of the casing. The oil formation is then penetrated, and if the formation is under a high pressure a flow of oil, gas, and

possibly sand, is initiated, and the well would blow in as a gusher if it were not for the provision of the blow-out preventer which forms a tight seal at the upper end of the well'casing. Before a flow head can be installed at the upper end of the well it is necessary to remove the drill element. The drill element may be moved upward through the well until it reaches the blow-out preventer. At this time the blow-out preventer must be opened to permit the drill element to pass from the upper end of the casing. Considerable skill is required at this time to remove the drill element and close a gate valve located in the Well casing below the blow-out preventer before the Well gets out of control'. The gate valve or sealing lvalve is manually closed by a' Workman who must remain at vor near the well during the time that the upper end of the well casing is open. If the well is under considerable pressure it is very dangerous for a workman to remain at the well to close the gate valve, since the pressure is liable at any time to surge and damage the surface equipment which may 'fall'upon or otherwise injure the workmen.

To overcome this disadvantage which subjects the workmen to danger, our invention provides means 'for closing the upper end of the well when the drill element is removed 50 from the well casing, which is automatically operated by the drill element as it leaves-the upper end of the Well.

If the well is under heavy pressure there may be a heavy flow of fluid when the blowout preventer is opened and the drill element asses out. The hand-operated gate valve 1s slow to operate andthe gate member of the val'vei moves slowly'across the opening in the well casing. It is not uncommon to have a valve gate Worn away by the attrition of the sand carried in the Huid to such an extent that the well will not bev entirely sealed O.

To eliminate the possibilities of the gate of the valve being worn away by attritional action due to the slowness with which it closes, we provide a means by which the gate of the valve is almost instantaneously closed. The closing action is so rapid that the flow of fluid is stopped before it does any damage to the gate. f

In the ordinary drilling equipment the drill element is raised from the upper end ofthe well casing by means of a cable which is wound on a drum, this drum in turn being operated by an engine. Ordinarily it is necessary to have a workman remain near the well to shut down the en ine when the drill element has been raised rom the upper end of the casing. It is dangerous for the Workman shutting down the engine to remain near the well for the same reason that it is dangerous for the man operating the gate valve to remain at the well.

This disadvantage of present well drilling equipment is avoided in our invention by the provision of means which automatically shuts down the engine when the drill element is lifted from the upper end of the well casing.

In the preferred form of thel invention the apparatus has a mechanism which is operated when the drill element is raised from the upper end of the Well casing, this mecha nism simultaneously operating means for closing the gate valve, and shutting down the engine.

It is an object of this invention to have the sealing valve designed so that it may be either automatically operated or manually operated.

In the preferred form of the invention the the stem 49. The operating line 57 extends around a small pulley 60 so that the direction of pull of the operating line on the ring 59 will be toward the outer end ofthe valve arm 50.

When the drill element is lifted from the upper end of the well casing 12, .the eye 5.8 is moved upward and the operating line 1s pulled upon so that the end aving the ring 59 is moved in a direction indicated by outward7 the free end of the latch 53 is engaged and is removed from contact with the valve arm 50. The latch 53 may swing into the position indicated by dotted lines 64 of Fig. 2. When the ring 59 has been pulled from the outer end of the valve arm 50, the valve arm 50 is freed and the wei ht 51 will swing it into the position indicate by dotted lines 65 of Fig. 2. When this occurs the supply of fluid throu h the engine' branch line 41 is shut off andf uid is supplied to the cylinder 33 through the valve branch line 38. The result of this action is that the engine is shut down and the drill element 16 is retained in a position above the upper end of the well casing and blow-out preventer, as indicated by dotted lines 68 in Fig. 2. The fluid under pressure supplied to the cylinder 33 moves the piston 35 therein into dotted line position 36 which results in a movinur of the gate 30 into closed or sealing position. The movement of the gate into closed position is very uick, and the upper end of the well is sealed without a lapse of an appreciable length of time after the upper end of the casing has been opened by the removal of the sealing means 18 of the blow-out preventer 14.

To provide for a manual operation of the sealing valve 15 the invention provides a lead screw or stem 70 which is connected at 7l to the piston 35 and which extends from the cylinder 33 through a stuffing-box 72. The stem 7 0 has a threaded portion 73 which eX- tends through a nut means 74 of the invention. The nut means 74 consists of a nutretaining part 75 providing a cavity having a tapered seat 76 of cylindrical cross section, as shown. Adapted to rest in the cavity is a nut 78 consisting ofa pair of complementary nut members 80. The nut members 80 have tapered faces 81 Vwhich are adapted to engage the tapered seat 7 6.` For the purpose of preventing the nut members from rotating in the cavit the invention-.provides guide pins 83 whic extend into slots 84 of the nut members 80. The adjacent side faces v85 of the nut members 80 are in diverging relation and extending between them are spreader pins 86 carried by the nut-retaining part 75. They purpose of the spreader pins 86 is to guide the nut members 80 outward when they are moved from the position shown in Fig. 3 into the position shown in Fig. 6. The nut the arrow 63 of Fig. 2. When the ring 59 is pulled members cooperate to provide a central threaded opening 88 through which the threaded portions 73 of the stem 70 extends. The nut members are ordinarily retained in the small end of the cavity by compression springs 89.

When the sealing Valve is closed by fluid pressure, the stem 70 is not rotated but moves bodily toward the cylinder 33. At this time the engagement of the stem with the nut members moves the nut members into the osition shown in Fig. 6. When the nut mem ers are in these positions they are moved outward so that the threads thereof are prevented from meshing with the threads of the stein 70, and the result is that the steam 70 may move freely toward the cylinder 33. When the sealing valve is closed manually in lieu of by the fiuid pressure, the lead screw 70 is rotated by engaging the hand-wheel 90 thereof. The engagement of the thread 73' with the threads ont i opening 88 causes the lead screw to be ad ced inward so that the parts connected thereto are moved to close the gate 30 o'f the sealing valve 15.

After the sealing valve has been closed by fluid pressure it may be desirable to shut down the fluid pressure'source. Before doing so it is necessary to replace the hydraulic means for holding the valve closed by a mechanical means. In our invention this is accomplished by rotating the stem 70 in a direction which would under ordinaryvconditions result in advancing it to close the valve. The result of this action is that the nut members 8O are moved outward from the position shown in Fig. 6 into the position shown in Fig. 3. When the nut members reach the position shown in Fig. 3 they engage one end of the cavity and at this time a Inechanical thrust is placed on the stem 70 and the parts connected thereto. The iiuid pressure source may then be shut down.

To open the sealing valve after a How head has been attached to the upper end of the Well l casing 12, it is necessary to rotate the stem 70 in a reverse direction. Ordinarily the result of this would not .be to move the lead screw outward but to move the nutl members 80 inward from the position shown in Fig. 3 into the position shown in Fig. 6. Qur invention provides an insert member having a slot 96. Thisinsert member is adapted to be inserted into the large end of the cavity which receives the nut 74 through an opening 97 in the side thereof. The insert member 95 fills this large end of the cavity and prevents the nut members from moving. When the nut members are held from movement, the stem 7 0 will be advanced outward so that the gate 30 of the valve is moved into retracted position.

The invention in its entirety may be used to automatically close the well and shut down the engine when the drill element has invention resides in t-he mechanism Where` by the control valve is operated and in the nut means which permits the stem 70 to be moved With or Without rotation.

/V e claim as our invention:

l. A combination as described comprising:

a well casing extending into a well; a sealingI valve operable to close the upper end of said Well c asing; a drill element in said Well casing; 'elevating means for raising said drill element from said Well casing; mechanism operated by said vdrill element as it is raised above said sealing valve for operating said sealing valve; and for arresting the operation of said elevating means.

2. A combination as described comprising: a Well casing extending into a Well; a sealing valve operable to close the upper end of said well casing; a drill element in said well casing; elevating means for raising said drill element from said Well casing; fluid-operated meansfor operating said sealingvalve; and mechanism operated by said drill element as it is raised above said. sealing valve in a manner to supply fluid under pressure to said Huid-operated means.

3. A combination as described comprising: a well casing extending into a Well; a sealing valve operable to close the upper end of said Well casing; a drill element in said' Well casing; elevating means for raising said drill clement from said Well casing including a fluid-operated engine; fluid-operated means for operating said sealing valve; and mechanism operated by said drill element as it is raised above said sealing valve in a manner to supply fluid under pressure to said fluidoperated means, and to discontinue the supply of fluid to said fluid-operated engine.

4. A combination as described comprising: a well casing extending into a Well; a sealing valve operable to close the upper end of said Well casing; a drill element in said Well casing; elevating means for raising said drill element from said Well casing including a fluid-operated engine; fluid-operated means for operating said sealing valve; a fluid-supply means connected to said fluid-operated means and said fluid-operated engine, said fluid-supply means having a fluid-control means; and mechanism operated by said drill element as it is raised above said sealing valve in a manner to operate said fluid-control means to supply fluid under pressure to said fluid-operated means, and to discontinue the supply of fluid to said fluid-operated engine.

5. A combination as described comprising: a Well casing extending into a Well; a sealing valve operable to close the upper end of said Well casing; a drill element in said Well casing; elevating means for raising said drill element from said Well casing; means for operating said sealing valve; and means actuated by the elevation of said drill above said sealing valve for controlling said valve operating means and for arresting the operation of said elevating means.

6. A combination as described comprising; a Well casing extending into a well; a sealing valve operable to close the upper end of said Well casing; a drill element in said well casing; elevating means for raising said drill element from said Well casing; and drill actuated means for operating said sealing valve and for arresting the operation of said elevating means.

7. The combination with a Well casing and a drill element in said casing; of means for cutting off the flo7 of fluid through the well casing, comprising: a valve body having a passage therethrough; a gate carried by said body and adapted to close said passage; a rod connected with said gate; a cylinder having fluid-supply means; a piston in said cylinder and connected to said rod; means operated by the elevation of said drill element above a predetermined position for supplying fluid under-pressure to said cylinder for closing said gate; and manually operable means for holding said gate in closed position when said fluid supply is discontinued.

8. The combination with a Well casing and a drill element in said casing; of means for cutting olf the flow of fluid through the Well casing, comprising: a valve body having a passage therethrough; a gate carried by said body and adapted to close said passage; a rod associated with said gate; a cylinder having 'fluid-supply means; a piston in said cylinder and connected to said rod; a stem connected to said piston; means actuated by the elevation of said drill element above a predetermined position for operating said piston to 'close said gate; and means independent of said Huid-supply means for holding said gate in closed position when said fluid-supply means is discontinued.

9. The combination with a well casing and a drill element in said casing; of means for cutting off the flow of fluid through the' well casing, comprising: a valve body having a passage therethrough communicating with said Well casing; a gate carried by said body and adapted to close said passage; a rod associated with said gate; a cylinder having fluid-supply means; a fluid valve for said fluid supply means; a piston in said cylinder and connected to said rod; a stem connected to said piston; means whereby said stem may be moved axially when fluid is supplied to said cylinder or may be moved axially oy rotation; and means actuated in response to a movement of said drill element for opeiating said fluid Valve.

10. The combination with a Well casing and a drill elenfntv of a sealing device, comprising: a valve body having a passage therethrough; a gate carried by said body and adapted to close said passage; a rod associated with said gate; a cylinder having uid-supply means; a piston in said oyimder and connected to said rod; a stem oonneeted to said piston; mechanism operated by said drill element as it is raised above said valve passage to supply fluid to said cylindei for closing said gate; and said stem adapted for manual operation for holding said gate in closed position when said fuid supply is discontinued. l

In testimony whereof, We have hereunto set ou;` hands at Los Angeles, California, this 2nd day ofNovembez, 1927.

CHESTER A. RASMUSSEN.

WILLIAM- A.' TROUT. 

